A so-called wire-to-board connector is used to connect electrical wiring such as cables to a circuit board such as a printed circuit board. In this connector, one connector is mounted on the board, and is then mated with another connector connected to the ends of the cables (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
FIG. 12 is a perspective view showing the situation before a connector of the prior art is mated.
In this drawing, 951 denotes the terminals in the board connector which are press-fitted and mounted on a bottom panel of a housing 911 made of an insulating material. The bottom ends of each of the terminals 951 pass through the board 991 and are soldered to a member such as a conductive trace formed on the back surface of the board 991. The board connector is secured to the board 991 in this way. The housing 911 includes a recessed portion 913 opening upwards to expose the upper ends of the terminals 951 inside the recessed portion 913.
Also, 811 is the housing in the wire connector and wire-side terminals (not shown) connected to the ends of each electrical wire 891 mounted in the housing. The housing 811 is moved in the direction of the arrow shown in the drawing, and the board connector is inserted into the recessed portion 913 of the housing 911 to mate the wire connector with the board connector. In this way, the wire-side terminals connected to the ends of each of the electrical wires 891 come into contact with the corresponding terminal 951, and each electrical wire 891 establishes an electrical connection with the corresponding conductive trace on the board 991.
A pair of protrusions 935 are formed on the front surface of the housing 911 in the board connector. Also, a band-like arm 831 is provided on the front surface of the housing 811 in the wire connector. The arm 831 is slidably mounted on the front surface of the housing 811 via an elastically deformable support portion not shown in the drawing. A hook-shaped hook portion 835 is formed on the bottom end of the arm 831 which protrudes towards the front surface of the housing 811.
When the housing 811 in the wire connector is inserted into the recessed portion 913 of the housing 911 in the board connector and the wire connector and the board connector are mated, the sliding arm 831 causes the hook portion 835 to overcome the protrusions 935 and engage the bottom end of the protrusions 935. In this way, the wire connector and the board connector are locked, and the wire connector is kept from becoming detached from the board connector.
Because the pair of protrusions 935 are separated from each other in the transverse direction, the hook portion 835 remains engaged with the left and right protrusions 935 even when the wire connector is subjected to an external force inclined with respect to the transverse direction. In other words, the connectors remain reliably locked.
When the wire connector has to be detached from the board connector, the operator manually presses the upper portion 837 of the arm 831 against the front surface of the housing 811 to slide the arm 831 and disengage the hook portion 835 from the protrusions 935. In this way, the connectors can be unlocked.
Patent Document 1: Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-123912